2013 Road World Championships: Men's Road Race, Lucca-Firenze 272.2 km

[trevim]

Costa does this since ever, his opponents know, yet he keeps winning. The entire peloton proves to be a complete bunch of fools

Anyway, La Punt stage this year.

Also Verbier 2012 and a lot others. Anyway where's Parrulo?

 

[Hugo87]

Costa does this since ever, his opponents know, yet he keeps winning. The entire peloton proves to be a complete bunch of fools

Anyway, La Punt stage this year.

It's the same stories all over again, " after this win Costa will never be able to ride that way", after some couple of months he does it again.

His opponents suffer from Alzheimer probably or just can't counter him effectively, that's why he's ranked 8º place on CQ.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Maybe i exceeded myself in that sentence, but you understand what i was talking about.

If it was Sagan wheelsucking and winning while making a wheelie everyone was admiring him and telling how great cyclist he is (and he is).

Not me. I can't stand Peter Sagan. Obnoxious poser. It's all too easy for him right now. Hopefully when he undergoes some hardship he can grow up a bit, like when Cavendish had all that trouble when he re-did his teeth and struggled to hit form for a few months.

 

[The Hitch]

Anyway where's Parrulo?

it's not that he loved Costa less, but that he loved Nibali more

 

[ferryman]

Team GB a total disgrace. Not heard from Wiggins yet but Froome's and Thomas's excuses are a total embarresmment. Damn that rain. On the other hand, nice to see the Romanian guy get top 50 x zero team mates. Balls.

 

[Afrank]

Watching the re-run of Universal's coverage, Announcers think Costa is Machado.

 

[ElChingon]

Well this was just a typical Worlds Race. Favorite teams and largest teams end up either not working together or totally losing their minds (tactically) and a smaller nation takes the win. This is the same scenario year after year with a few exceptions where the big cycling nations get it together. We all know of the Azzuri shenanigans and now I think Spain is following suit and doing the same things. Heck if it wasn't for Freire Spain would still be clueless as far as getting a win and basically hardly even tried to win it, now with Freire's wins Spain finally woke up to put some serious efforts and now just have too much pressure to win it due to that (just like Italy). Belgium is also up there but lately hasn't fielded a decent team.

Stories of the backstabbing and behind the back discussions are endless, that is the drama of Worlds pretty much like regular team racing but in Worlds riders don't always come from the same commercial team. Its not like every Worlds Winner has been the best rider in the race now has it.

 

[Dedelou]

Watching the re-run of Universal's coverage, Announcers think Costa is Machado.

That is why the "ONLY" way to watch sports on TV is to first mute the sound. After you watch the race a few times... (easy since we have DVR) you can really get a kick and watch it one last time with the sound. Lately, I tend to do my last re run using a language a barely understand.
I am so disappointed for Purito, but after a few glasses of wine, later on tonight, I will raise a glass for Costa and wish him good luck in avoiding the Rainbow Curse.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Phenomenal how Rodriguez can always find a way to lose a bike race. I wasnt impressed by Costa's wheel sucking at the end, but he was tactically very smart and timed his one effort beautifully

I enjoyed the AC/DC played after the finish.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Poor Purito...his face said it all....
just ONCE I'd like to see him get the BIG win.....

I thought Nibz was a hero! he rides with honor and courage

Never did hear what happened to Wiggins or when the heck he pulled over...did he ever say anything afterward?? gheez...

 

[EnacheV]

Team GB a total disgrace. Not heard from Wiggins yet but Froome's and Thomas's excuses are a total embarresmment. Damn that rain. On the other hand, nice to see the Romanian guy get top 50 x zero team mates. Balls.

I'm sure top50 would have mattered for Froome a lot, a good objective to risk your bones when you are no1 at the end of the year. It's a mistery why he even bothered after TdF, from January to August is enough of a season.

From another forum, didn;t checked if it;s 100% true but sounds logical

You know how many Tour winners have even turned up for the Worlds since they moved to September in 1995? Four - Indurain and Riis in the first two years and then nobody for 16 years until Wiggins last year.

 

[Descender]

Well this was just a typical Worlds Race. Favorite teams and largest teams end up either not working together or totally losing their minds (tactically) and a smaller nation takes the win. This is the same scenario year after year with a few exceptions where the big cycling nations get it together. We all know of the Azzuri shenanigans and now I think Spain is following suit and doing the same things. Heck if it wasn't for Freire Spain would still be clueless as far as getting a win and basically hardly even tried to win it, now with Freire's wins Spain finally woke up to put some serious efforts and now just have too much pressure to win it due to that (just like Italy). Belgium is also up there but lately hasn't fielded a decent team.

Stories of the backstabbing and behind the back discussions are endless, that is the drama of Worlds pretty much like regular team racing but in Worlds riders don't always come from the same commercial team. Its not like every Worlds Winner has been the best rider in the race now has it.

1995 says hello.

Especially since it was pretty much an identical situation as yesterday (only Indurain did it right back then).

Between 1995 and 2004, Spain won five titles. Only silver and bronze since then, despite all the talent.

 

[briztoon]

Australia

Great ride by Simon Clarke. Really proud of him. Was really hoping he could bridge across on the down hill between the two climbs.

I know a couple of the Aussie riders crashed with Cadel, I read that Michael Matthews and Dave Tanner went down in the same crash as Cadel.

But what happened to the rest? I was expecting/hoping that Porte and maybe Haymen and Meyer would be there towards the end.



And what happened to the Brits? why did they all bail on the race? I haven't read any of their comments.

 

[Tigerion]

Great ride by Simon Clarke. Really proud of him. Was really hoping he could bridge across on the down hill between the two climbs.

I know a couple of the Aussie riders crashed with Cadel, I read that Michael Matthews and Dave Tanner went down in the same crash as Cadel.

But what happened to the rest? I was expecting/hoping that Porte and maybe Haymen and Meyer would be there towards the end.

Meyer and Porte got caught out in a split, not sure if a crash caused it or what but the got left behind in the 2nd peloton that didn't have the firepower to rejoin the race. Other than Clarke the rest of them hit the deck

And what happened to the Brits? why did they all bail on the race? I haven't read any of their comments.

Apparently the brits don't like the rain. Maybe they all got homesick

 

[briztoon]

Wheel sucking?

Can some one explain to me how Costa or Gerrans winning by wheel sucking is any different to how almost every sprinter wins by wheel sucking?

So many riders wheel suck until they see their chance to jump and take the race. The difference is when they jump and whether they are successful or not. Rodriguez hid and wheel sucked for most of the race until he saw his chance to jump. He got away, but couldn't hold it.

You have to be strong to be there at the end. Only two riders were there, and the rider with the better finish won.

 

[RedheadDane]

Rain was pouring down
making everybody fall.
Out came the Rainbow.

 

[movingtarget]

Great ride by Simon Clarke. Really proud of him. Was really hoping he could bridge across on the down hill between the two climbs.

I know a couple of the Aussie riders crashed with Cadel, I read that Michael Matthews and Dave Tanner went down in the same crash as Cadel.

But what happened to the rest? I was expecting/hoping that Porte and maybe Haymen and Meyer would be there towards the end.



And what happened to the Brits? why did they all bail on the race? I haven't read any of their comments.

Porte crashed earlier than Evans and was down a few minutes. Three Aussies went down in Cadel's crash. Two went to hospital, Evans and Tanner I think for suspected leg injuries and no broken bones were found. The coverage seemed to miss most of the carnage. It seems someone came past Clarke on a descent, hit the barriers and fell in front of the three Aussies behind Clarke. Uran's crash could have been a lot worse and he seemed to be pushing a bit too much on the descent.

 

[movingtarget]

Exactly. Valverde played that horribly. At the end he only had one job, follow Costa no matter what. Nibali was obviously knackered after all that chasing and woudlnt be a factor. If I was Purito I would be seriously ****ed at Valverde.

Terrible tactics. Nibali will never outsprint Valverde even if Valverde chased down Rui Costa. To have two riders in the top four and one is by far the best sprinter and still lose is embarrassing. As soon as Rodriguez got pulled back I thought Valverde has this. It seems Valverde preferred to have Nibali not win instead of win himself. Would like to know what Rodriguez was saying to Rui Costa. Whatever it was Costa seemed unimpressed.

 

[briztoon]

Australia

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[Pricey_sky]

An absolute embarrassment from GB. Using the rain as an excuse when its the same for everyone is not on. One of the problems is they are so one dimensional that if the leader has a bad day then they are totally shafted. It's all very well focusing on the GT's and winning the Tour every year but they do need a kick up the backside when it comes to the big one-day races. The likes of Thomas and Stannard are great engines to have but they just aren't explosive enough to cause any race winning damage. Wiggo is one of the best TT'ers around but as soon as it rains cant go downhill leaving Froome having an off day and its game over.

It's at least a little refreshing to see Ellingworth come out and slam the pathetic effort from his riders last night instead of being brushed under the carpet like the classics failure. There needs to be some serious head scratching going on over the winter to find a formula or putting this right. With the rumoured long TT at the end of next seasons Tour Froome will take some beating if he turns up in any sort of form meaning its the perfect time to have a long, hard look at themselves. Sky hopefully now start to realise that just winning the Tour isn't enough, they need to be more than just a one card team.

 

[willbick]

as long as winning le tour every year keeps their sponsors happy then Sky will continue to focus mainly on that. It may be boring for cycling fans buts thats the way it is. Different teams have different priorities. The fact is Sky just dont have a classics winning capable rider on their roster, same with team GB.

Did they use the rain as an excuse? Froome didnt

p.s. Can we have a dedicated 'whinging about wheelsuckers' thread so all the idiots can go there?

 

[hrotha]

I just realized I haven't said anything about the race as a whole.

It was awful. Italy tried to make the race hard but then they stopped far from the finish as no one else seemed to be interested. Everybody waited for the last lap. What the hell. See Fuglsang when he made CAS pull. Did he think he could beat the favourites head on? That was stupid, he should have tried his luck with, say, 3 laps to go. There wasn't even a single mid-race breakaway with dangerous riders looking for their chance. Teams like Switzerland, Germany or Slovakia wouldn't benefit from a harder race, but what about Spain, the Netherlands, France (at least the French did make some half-arsed attempts), Russia...?

Hell, I think we saw more action in Copenhague.

 

[willbick]

Shouldnt be too critical of the way it was raced given the dreadful conditions. But it does make you wonder quite why the world road race needs to be so long. I suppose its considered to be the 'ultimate test' to find a 'worthy winner', but the fact is even if they only did 5 laps and so the race was 80k shorter I bet it wudda been the same result.

 

[search]

but the fact is even if they only did 5 laps and so the race was 80k shorter I bet it wudda been the same result.

I doubt it, a shorter (and therefor less hard) race would have been in favor of Sagan and so on

 

[brilleaben]

Just wait until next year when Mohoric is a senior Then there will be carnage.